Amazon AWS posts 39% revenue growth as cloud rivals also accelerate

Visitors crowd the Amazon Web Services (AWS) exhibition stand at the 2026 Hannover Messe industrial trade fair on April 20, 2026 in Hanover, Germany.Sean Gallup | Getty ImagesAmazon's cloud-computing unit reported more rapid third-quarter growth than analysts had projected.Revenue came in at $45.98 billion, up 39% year over year and above the $45.29 billion consensus among analysts polled by StreetAccount, according to a statement. Growth in the second quarter came in at about 37%.Amazon remains the top cloud by revenue, but growth has also sped up at rivals Alphabet and Microsoft. On Wednesday Alphabet said the Google Cloud business, which contains infrastructure and Google Workspace subscriptions, more than doubled in the third quarter.All the major clouds have been racing to build data centers that can accommodate high artificial intelligence demand. During the quarter, AWS announced plans to expand its portfolio of Nvidia graphics processing units that can handle AI workloads.AWS also acquired data analysis startup DuckLabs and signed deals with Meta and OpenAI, according to the statement.The AWS segment generated $17.77 billion in third-quarter operating income, up 55% and more than the $16.97 billion StreetAccount consensus.The unit now accounts for almost 23% of Amazon's revenue, a record.On Wednesday, Microsoft published its first earnings report that contained revenue from its Azure cloud in dollars. Azure is 72% the size of AWS, up from 58% two years ago.WATCH: Big Tech earnings put AI spending and profitability in focus: Analyst